Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Eighteen: 2:31

Later that night, Hermione was certain that she had imagined Meredith expressing her wish to meet with Ron. When Meredith had announced it, Hermione had just sat there in disbelief. No one, of course, tried to persuade her not to.

Not yet, at least.

Hermione looked at the clock on the wall, sighing as she saw the time. She was exhausted, but way too tired to sleep.

2:31.

"Angel?"

Hermione looked up from her spot on the couch to find Draco coming into the room with two glasses of wine. She took one from him and downed a sip eagerly.

"Thank you."

Draco sat down next to her, remaining quiet. She looked at him, trying to read his facial expressions. She knew that it wasn't about Meredith or Ron - most likely - and therefore she didn't know exactly what was bothering him.

"What is it?" she asked.

He looked and her shook his head. "Nothing."

Hermione sighed, grabbing his wine glass from his hand and placing it down on the table along with her own. She touched his face and smiled softly at him.

"Draco Malfoy, do not lie to your wife." she sighed, shaking her head.

He just stared at her for a minute and her smile slowly slipped away as she waited for him to speak.

"Hermione, I..." he started.

She knew not to push him. She knew how he was. She had known how he was forever.

"I know this whole thing is really hard for you - with Ron. It's really hard for you and Harry, I get that, but..." he started.

Hermione's stomach dropped and she knew where this was headed. "But I've been comforting Harry more than I've been comforting you."

Draco nodded slowly, looking away from her and Hermione felt shame flood her entire being.

"I know it's harder for you two than it is for me, but... it's still hard for me, Hermione and I think that you're forgetting that." he whispered.

Hermione's eyes flooded with tears and she nodded. This wasn't the first time she had done this, and every time she had realized she was in the past, she had hated herself for it.

"I get in this headspace when it involves, Ron. I get thrown back to being in Hogwarts when it was just the three of us." Hermione whispered. "Not that that's an excuse."

Draco sighed and turned to look back at her, touching her face gently.

"Love, I know. It makes sense." Draco sighed. "Just... don't forget I'm here, too, okay?"

"Draco, I could never forget that." she whispered. "You're my husband. You're the love of my life. You're the father of my children. You're my whole world."

And then Draco's lips were on hers, the need for one another becoming apparent all at once. He pushed her back on the couch and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight against her.

All of their children had gone to bed long ago, but Hermione knew that they needed to move to their bedroom, just in case. Draco's hands went under her shirt and she felt herself grin uncontrollably.

"Angel..." he whispered against her ear, his lips grazing her ever so slightly.

"I love you." she whispered. "I love you so much. Please don't ever think otherwise."

"Never." he whispered. "Never ever."

He looked deep into her eyes and Hermione felt the butterflies that she had been feeling ever since the first night in the Astronomy Tower.

Twenty three years later and Hermione knew that the butterflies would never go away.

. . .

"Come over."

James sighed, pulling his cell phone away from his ear for a moment to look at his phone.

2:31.

"I want to M&M, but I think my parents are still downstairs." James sighed.

He heard Marley sigh in the phone and he closed his eyes in frustration. They had both known that they had to at least make a show of sleeping in their own beds that night - for fear of Draco actually murdering him.

But now that they were actually apart, James wanted to be by her side more than anything. He wanted her to sleep with her head on his chest.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Pretty sure. Hang on." he said, hopping out of bed. "I'll check."

"Okay." she whispered.

James left the phone on his bed as he crept out of his room, going to the top of the stairs. He saw the light on in his living room and groaned inwardly.

What the hell were his parents still doing up?

"Harry, I just... I feel like I see it when you look at her." Ginny said, the tears evident in her voice.

James froze. He had been about to walk back to his room, but now he was insanely curious.

"Gin, I promise there is nothing, okay? I promise you." Harry said. "You know I'm telling the truth. I know you know."

"But..." Ginny started.

"Ginny, that was twenty years ago, okay? Twenty."

"But that doesn't mean -"

"Do you really think I would do that again, Gin? That I'd risk our life together? Our beautiful life with our beautiful children?"

There was a silence and James felt his heart beating quickly. Who were they talking about?

"No. I know you wouldn't." Ginny whispered finally.

"Because I love you more than life itself, Ginny. I mean that with everything I have." Harry whispered.

James sat down on the top step, where he knew he would still be concealed in the darkness.

"Hermione... you know she's been in my life forever. She's honestly like my sister, Gin. I promise." Harry said.

Hermione? Marley's mother?

Of course. Marley had said that his father and her mother had been involved, but James hadn't thought that it would ever have been while his parents were together. There was a sudden fury in James' heart at his father.

How could he have ever cheated on his mother?

Had Hermione been with Draco at the time?

It took all of James' strength not to stomp down the stairs and demand to know just what exactly had happened.

"Ha, sister." Ginny said bitterly.

"Ginny..." Harry sighed.

"No, I know. You're right. Twenty years ago."

"Hermione was broken and so was I. I was still recovering from the War. Me and you were in a horrible place and I will regret it all to the day I die."

"Harry, don't... I'm sorry. You shouldn't be beating yourself up over this. Not now. Not ever, really. I don't know what's going on with me."

James was shaking. His fists were clenched and he took a deep breath.

"You're under a lot of stress. We all are." Harry whispered. "I can't imagine how it felt to know about Meredith and Ava..."

"Harry, I wanted to tell you so badly. I wanted to help Meredith, but I had no idea how to. And I knew that you would want to be there for her, Harry. I know how you think of her." Ginny said.

James was confused. Just how did his father think of Meredith?

"Before Draco was around, Gin... I will never forget the heartbreak on Hermione's face when Meredith thought I was her dad."

There was another moment of silence as James just sat there, holding his breath.

"Are we okay?" Harry whispered.

"Of course we are, Harry." Ginny said. "Just... be there for me, too, okay? He's my brother. This is hard for me."

"I love you, Ginny. I love you." Harry said.

And then James heard a kissing sound and went back to his room as quickly as possible. He caught sight of his phone and cursed under his breath, having momentarily forgotten that Marley was on the line.

"You still there?" he whispered.

"Yeah. Thought you'd fallen asleep or something." she answered.

"I'm sorry. I was eavesdropping on my parents. They're still awake."

"What were you listening in on?"

Did James tell her?

Of course he did. He had to. She was Marley.

"I'll tell you in the morning, okay?" he said. "I really don't know when my parents will be going to bed, so I don't think I can use the Floo tonight, M&M."

"It's alright." she whispered.

"Stay on the phone until we fall asleep?" James asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay."

James closed his eyes, lying back on his bed as he listened to Marley's soft breathing on the end of the line. He thought over his parents' conversation, but decided to put it out of his mind for the time being, thinking of Marley instead.

. . .

Meredith sat up on her bed, biting her lip and drumming her fingers on her knee quickly. She was too wired to sleep. Her brain was too full.

After talking it out with Teddy, she had decided that she needed to meet Ron again. She needed to confront her demons if she ever wanted to move past any of them - and that included Ron.

And Leo.

Leo.

Meredith had no idea what to do about Leo. Was there anything she could do? She knew in her heart that she was still deeply in love with him, but she also felt as though there was too much damage there for anything to be repaired.

And she was scared. She was scared to open up her heart again. She was scared of anymore hurt.

But she wasn't sure if she could take it anymore - being alone. Clearly, exiling herself from her friends and family was not helping her accept Ava's death anymore than breaking things off with Leo had done.

She missed him. She needed him. And she knew that he needed her as well.

She looked at her clock.

2:31.

"Fuck it." she whispered.

Meredith got off her bed and grabbed her wand from her bedside table, Disapparating before she could change her mind. She wasn't even sure if she could make it through the Wards, but when she felt herself do it with ease, she was pleasantly surprised.

She opened her eyes, finding herself in Leo's room at his Aunt and Uncle's house - the only true home she knew he had ever known. She had only been there once before, in the summer before Seventh Year. She looked at Leo's bed, finding him sitting up wide awake - just as she had been minutes ago.

"Hi." she said.

"Meredith, what are you doing here?" he sighed, picking up his wand and pointing it in the direction of the door. "Muffliato."

Meredith just shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the edge of his bed, looking at him tentatively.

"I... I couldn't sleep." she decided to say.

"Yeah, me neither." Leo sighed.

"I know you're mad at me, Leo. I'm mad at me, too." she sighed.

Leo wasn't looking at her, and it was driving her crazy. She plucked up her courage and slid an inch closer to him. He still didn't look at her.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I'm so sorry I ran away."

"It's a bit late for that, Mer." he said.

"You're the one who came to find me, Leo. You're the one who showed up in my kitchen without no notice." Meredith said.

Leo finally looked up, his eyes reddened at the rims and filled with tears.

"Well, that might have been a mistake." Leo said flatly.

Meredith's heart stung painfully. She regretted coming instantly at his tone. She stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't want to fall apart in front of Leo - not again.

"Mer..." he said.

She turned back to face him, finding him having stood up off the bed. He walked toward her and held something up in front of her face. As she took in the sight of it, she closed her eyes. She wasn't ready for that.

"Look, Meredith. Please." he whispered.

Meredith shook her head, keeping her eyes firmly shut. She felt Leo's soft touch on her arm and she opened her eyes slowly, taking in the sight.

It was a photograph of the three of them - Meredith, Leo and Ava.

It had been taken the day she was born. Their first official family photo. The first out of three.

They had only been able to take three photos together as a family.

Meredith grabbed the photo out of Leo's hand and peered in at it. In the photo, she was sitting in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, holding Ava in her arms as Leo sat with his arm around her. Both of them were smiling, laughing and gazing down at Ava, their expressions full of love.

She hadn't looked at a photo of Ava since the day of her Hogwarts graduation. When she had left for Europe, she had promised to not look back.

Now she felt selfish. How had she thought that pretending to forget what had happened to her poor daughter would have made things any better for anyone?

Meredith began to cry for her daughter, for Leo, for her parents, for her whole family and for herself.

"S-she was so beautiful." Meredith squeaked out, tearing her eyes away to look at Leo.

"Yeah, she was."

This time, Meredith pulled Leo into her arms, letting him bury his face into her shoulder as she held her arms tight around him.

. . .

Draco kissed Hermione deeply, smoothing her hair back on her head and smiling at her. Her cheeks were flushed as she stared at him, her small sprinkling of freckles upon her nose and cheeks standing out.

"I love you, Draco." she whispered.

Draco kissed her again. "I love you, angel."

Hermione rolled over on her side and Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. He kissed the softness of her skin on her neck and shoulder and he felt her shiver slightly, causing him to smile.

It reminded him of the early days of their marriage - when they would stay up late into the night, having sex and talking.

Draco knew that they had needed night like that. He hadn't planned on bringing up his stupid jealousy over Harry's relationship with his wife, but Hermione had read him like a book and picked up that something else was wrong.

He hated whenever he got jealous.

Harry was his best friend - apart from Hermione. Draco could admit that now. It had taken a few years, but Harry truly had become one of the people Draco knew he could count on most - as bizarre as that was. He trusted Harry with his wife, but he was still occasionally jealous of their relationship.

Hermione knew exactly how to be around Harry. She knew how to calm him down. She knew everything about him. And while that was the same for Hermione with Draco, Draco sometimes wished that it was only like that with him.

He closed his eyes. He didn't want to obsess over it, not when he knew it was pointless. Hermione was in his arms. His whole life was in his arms.

And that was what mattered.

Author's Note: thank you to everyone who reviews and keeps reading! PLEASE KEEP IT UP LOVELIES! 3